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We all know our planet is in crisis, and that it is largely our fault. But all too often the full picture of change is obstructed by dense data sets and particular catastrophes. Struggling with this obscurity in her role as an editor at Nature, Gaia Vince decided to travel the world and see for herself what life is really like for people on the frontline of this new reality. What she found was a number people doing the most extraordinary things.

During her journey she finds a man who is making artificial glaciers in Nepal along with an individual who is painting mountains white to attract snowfall; take the electrified reefs of the Maldives; or the man who's making islands out of rubbish in the Caribbean. These are ordinary people who are solving severe crises in crazy, ingenious, effective ways. While Vince does not mince words regarding the challenging position our species is in, these wonderful stories, combined with the new science that underpins Gaia's expertise and research, make for a persuasive, illuminating  and strangely hopeful  read on what the Anthropocene means for our future.

Gaia Vince is a journalist and broadcaster specializing in science and the environment. She has been the editor of the journal Nature Climate Change, the news editor of Nature and online editor of New Scientist. She writes for newspapers including the Guardian, The Times, Science, Scientific American, and Australian Geographic. She devises and presents programs about the Anthropocene on BBC radio, blogs at WanderingGaia.com and tweets at @WanderingGaia. She resides in London.

Geological Time MapMapsList of IllustrationsIntroductionAtmosphereMountainsRiversFarmlandsOceansDesertsSavannahsForestsRocksCitiesEpilogueAcknowledgementsNotesIndex